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Islamic group warns of Olympic attacks

A group calling for a separate Islamic state in China’s far west, has released a video threatening to attack the Olympic Games. The group, calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party, said it had carried out a series of recent bombings across China, killing at least five people. It said it would stage more attacks during the Games which start in two weeks’ time.

Two people died when bombs exploded on buses in the southwestern city of Kunming last Monday. China denies a terrorist link, but the blasts added to security worries ahead of the opening of the Games in Beijing.

The Turkestan Islamic Party is campaigning for an independent homeland in China’s remote Xinjiang province, 4,000 kilometres west of Beijing. The group claimed it also bombed buses in Shanghai in May, and a plastics factory in Guangzhou ten days ago. Police patrols have been increased in the run-up to the Games, after authorities warned of a potential terror threat.